The growth of bitcoin is fueling speculation and debate about the environmental impact of the collective energy needed to power the virtual currency in the era of climate change. Some questions and answers about the issue:

The soaring value of bitcoin is encouraging more and more companies and individuals to engage in "mining". Mining is actually a process which secures the distributed bitcoin network, and processes all of its transactions. ...

A new security based on the price of the digital currency bitcoin was trading slightly higher Monday after its debut on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a week after another such security launched on a rival exchange.